How to access COMM port

[aolszak]

I don't seem to find any information about accessing COMM ports (RS-232) under 7.0 .NET. Anyone knows how to do it? Thanks.

[Glenn Burnside]

The .NET framework does not directly support serial communication. You can use the Win32 SDK through platform invoke (P/Invoke) calls, or you can use the VisaNS .NET class library form National Instruments, which supports serial communication. You can install the Visa .NET support from the National Instruments Driver CD

[Colin hughes]

There is a free component from SAX for RS-232.
http://www.sax.net

Why do the links not work in this forum?

[OnurYildirim]

Hi,

I presume you have not installed the NI-VISA driver. If you download (from NI web) and install it site you will be able to access the COM port.
It must have been supplied as a driver CD with measurement studio.

http://digital.ni.com/softlib.nsf/webcategories/85256410006C055586256BAC002C51FA?opendocument&node=132070_US

[Brichins]

MSDN has an article on how to use the P/Invoke with .NET.
http://msdn.microsoft.com/msdnmag/issues/02/10/netserialcomm/

MSDN also has a great article on using RS-232 with .NET.
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/dncodefun/html/code4fun12102003.asp
They show samples interfacing with an RS-232 LCD controller. The article mentions a component called DBComm that I have been using for over six months with a lot of success.

Finally RS-232 is supposed to be supported in the next release of .NET (Whidbey).

[Colin hughes]

This is the standard ActiveX control as used my VB programmers.
The SAX control is a free DOTNET control so P/Invoke is not needed.